Leap Day cupcake

This week's cupcake day just happened to fall on Feb. 29, Leap Day. I would leap great distances for cupcakes, and although I was only required to step through Cafe Moxo's front door to purchase the Bistro, I gladly would have bounded several feet to get my hands on that simple but scrumptious yellow cake with a mountain of chocolate buttercream frosting.

The Bistro has no fancy fillings or extravagant garnishes, but the falling-apart fresh yellow cake and airy chocolate buttercream frosting topped with a fistful of white chocolate chips combined for the type of taste sensation that makes you want more even if your stomach is protesting. When Moxo's cupcakes are fresh, they're divine. The last several I've tried have been so outstanding that I'm tempted to retry the few I bought near the holidays that disappointed me with the dryness or staleness of their cake -- namely the red velvet and the pumpkin spice. I'm unsure of Moxo's baking schedule, but I've often wondered if those particular cupcakes had been baked a day prior to when I bought them.

While I'm waiting for Moxo to unveil its spring menu, I plan to look elsewhere around town for some new cupcakes to try. D'Lynn's Delights, which originally resided at the southwest corner of Fourth and Monroe streets, has relocated to inside Grand Avenue Deli, 330 South Grand Ave. E. D'Lynn's makes five varieties of cupcakes available individually on a daily basis -- Vanilla Bean, Chocolate Fudge, Caramel Spice, Orange Creamsicle and Strawberry Cream, as well as an array of specialty flavors available by the dozen when ordered in advance. For the full listing of flavors, visit http://dlynnsdelightscafe.comcastbiz.net/14701.html.

Pumpkin Spice and everything nice? Um, not exactly ...

Hump Day Wednesday dawned sunny but cold, and it seemed the only thing to look forward to, as I dragged myself out of bed, was the cupcake to come. The week's selection? Cafe Moxo's Pumpkin Spice.

Let me start by saying that Pumpkin Spice had big shoes to fill. Heavenly Delight's Pumpkin cupcake was outstanding when I tried it at the end of August. With cake so moist it stuck to my fingers and luscious cream-cheese frosting, HD's Pumpkin ranked among my favorite cupcakes.

I was eager to try my first fresh Moxo cupcake in a few weeks. I had frozen and refrigerated several with less-than-desirable results -- namely, changes in frosting texture.

The frosting was not an issue for Pumpkin Spice. Though it wasn't piled as generously high as on other Moxo cupcakes, it was smooth and creamy, yet light. And very flavorful.

The cake, too, had flavor on its side -- it was spicy (true to its name) and bold. The problem? Dry! Since Pumpkin Spice is the only flavor Moxo doesn't list on its cupcake menu, therefore there is no description, I have no way of knowing if they're aiming for a denser, more crumbly coffee-cake consistency. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt, but it just came across as dry. I've realized, over the past several months of cupcake sampling, that moistness is a crucial quality to me in cake, and I tend to judge harshly. What's bone-dry to me might be perfectly acceptable to someone else. But my feeling upon eating the Pumpkin Spice was that it would have benefited from more frosting -- or, even better, some type of filling -- for hydration.

On a side note, I've made a contact with Tracy, the owner of TLCuppycakes, a bakery she runs out of her licensed kitchen in Petersburg. After I emailed her to find out if she has a shop that's open to the public (she doesn't), she offered to meet me when she's in Springfield for a delivery or special event and let me buy individual cupcakes if I wished. Did I wish? Heck yeah! My first cupcake rendezvous with her will be tomorrow. She's bringing me an Ultimate Hot Cocoa cupcake and -- guess what? -- a Pumpkin Cream Cheese. There are more than two dozen  mouth-watering flavors listed on her website, so I'm looking foward to this new endeavor. Check out TLCuppycakes' fabulous list of flavors at http://www.tlcuppycakes.com/Flavor-Menu-and-Ordering.html.